compound curves in plywood

UltraJohn
thlink.net:



I'm pretty sure that the process would be to heavy for the strength
it would provide, unless it were modified to provide several very
thin crossing layers, all of which woul have to be tightly glued to
each other

I'm no expert in (or any field) but several people have mentioned
about the lack of strength a single layer plywood would have and you'd
need several layers (ad various angles) etc etc. Yet the most common
new "core" constructions uses styrofoam for a core, I'd think the
plywood at almost any thickness would be stronger. The reason for use
the plywood would be for the looks (at least that's my guess).

Well, ultimately the wood would be for looks. I could easily make a strong
fuse for this using plywood. While i was at it I could clean up the
aerodynamics and use carbon fibre for the wing spars. The added strength
would enable a longer, thinner wing and I could probably delete the struts
into the bargain! Thing is, it wouldn't be a Baby Albatross anymore. Ithink
you're confused about what is meant by single layer. A single layer
wouldn't be plywood, it'd be one layer of a sheet of plywood. It' be a ply
after layers were glued together. I can't see foam being used succesfully
as a core in this design either. Either I have to use the built up scarfed
panels method or figure a way to make a thin plywood teardrop with a farily
tight radius. Seems possible to make a three or four ply lamination using
single veneers set at angles to each other wrapping four inch or so veneer
strips over a male mold one at a time and trimming to match it's neighbor.

The greatness of the Wright Brothers was that they were not limited by what
they did not know.

The Bowlus was a unique approach to flight, The design lends itself to
learning skills to make a modern replacement using either rekindled or
entirely new process.

Colin

"COLIN LAMB"
thlink.net:

The greatness of the Wright Brothers was that they were not limited by
what they did not know.

The Bowlus was a unique approach to flight, The design lends itself
to learning skills to make a modern replacement using either rekindled
or entirely new process.


True, vbut it wasn't exactly groundbreaking technology in 1938, either. A
modern replacement's been done. I want a fairly close replica.. When i
talked to Steven DuPont abou tit, he said "What do you want to build a
piece of **** like that for? I'm building an HP18! Build one of those."